Under the auspices of producer Norman Granz, Parker fulfilled a long-held desire to record in a string setting. Plans were made to release the results of the sessions as a ten-inch LP. Sessions from November 30, 1949, yielded the first Charlie Parker With Strings album (Mercury MG-35010), consisting of six songs total, all of which were standards.

The success of the first album led to additional sessions on July 5, 1950, resulting in another long-playing album also entitled Charlie Parker With Strings (Mercury MGC-109), consisting of eight tracks, also all standards.

In 1995, Verve Records reissued these fourteen recordings for compact disc, including an additional ten tracks with Parker also accompanied by strings. Five date from a Carnegie Hall concert on September 17, 1950; four more from an additional studio session in January 1952, and the last from Granz's The Jazz Scene limited edition 78 rpms recorded in Carnegie Hall in December 1947 with Neal Hefti.

There is some controversy regarding the impetus for Parker to record standards, rather than his original compositions, in settings of this kind as a bid for greater commercial exposure. Certainly Mercury Records did not object to this idea, although biographical sources indicate Parker himself instigated the sessions. However, they were instrumental in creating a vogue among jazz musicians for recording in a similar fashion: see Clifford Brown with Strings in 1955, Lady in Satin by Billie Holiday in 1958, and Focus by Stan Getz in 1961, among others.

The history of the vinyl releases is a complex one. Other early vinyl releases besides those on Mercury were on Clef Records (Norman Granz's label, later absorbed into Verve) and Verve Records (also founded by Norman Granz, and the predecessor of Mercury). Besides the 10" 33 RPM records, there were releases on 10" 78 RPM (box set) and on 7" 45 RPM records.

Clef Records MGC 675 was an early (or the earliest) 12" release and had the same cover as MG-35010 but the following, differing content:

Just Friends
Everything Happens To Me
April In Paris
Summertime
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
If I Should Lose You

You Came Along From Out Of Nowhere
East Of The Sun
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Easy To Love
I'm In The Mood For Love
I'll Remember April

The same songs, but in a different order were released on Verve MGV 8004 (also Verve V6-8004) "The Genius Of Charlie Parker, #2 - April In Paris" Other songs are on Verve MGV 8003 "The Genius Of Charlie Parker, #1 - Night And Day", and on MGV 8000, "The Charlie Parker Story #1".

In 1974, Verve Records (MV 2562) released a live version called "Charlie Parker With Strings – Midnight Jazz At Carnegie Hall". Other later live and studio releases exist, most of them on compilation albums.